Solve for x, correct to one decimal place. It`s a right angle triangle. The height for the triangle is 4 cm with a 48° angle. The bottom of the triangle is an x. I got the answer 3.3 cm, is this correct? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Did you use tan48 = x/4 ? and then solve for x.
Hello John,
I was thinking of doing 4tan48° on my calculator, and the answer i got was 4.4 cm, but i wasn't sure if this was correct or not. Is this right? Thank you.
Yes. You have rounded. But it is correct : )
Thank you so much for your help, John. :)
To solve for the length of the base (x) in a right triangle, we can make use of trigonometric ratios. In this case, we know the height (4 cm) and the angle opposite the base (48°). We can use the tangent function, which is defined as the ratio of the side opposite the angle to the side adjacent to the angle.
To find x, we need to use the tangent function:
tan(48°) = 4/x
Now, we can solve for x:
x = 4/tan(48°)
Using a calculator, we can find the value of the tangent of 48°, which is approximately 1.1106:
x = 4/1.1106 ≈ 3.6 cm (rounded to one decimal place)
Therefore, the value you obtained of 3.3 cm is not correct. The correct answer for x, rounded to one decimal place, is approximately 3.6 cm.